To Travel Or Not To Travel In 2020??

We know many of you are eager to travel; so are we!!  However, we are recommending to our clients that they not travel right now (especially internationally) because we just can’t offer or guarantee the pre-Covid-19 experience that we strive to provide to all our travel customers.

Currently our agency isn’t selling any travel for 2020 at all, because as travel professionals, we feel it isn’t right to encourage anyone to risk their lives or well being just to take a trip.  However, for those travelers who are itching to go somewhere, we are providing options (and some great specials) for travel in 2021.  With relaxed cancellation and refund policies through our preferred tour operators, Plan Now – Travel Later, is a great option to satisfy your travel blues.

As the Covid-19 pandemic rages on, the growing uncertainties about how long it will last, what aspects of travel are safe and what the travel experience will be like puts focus on the fine line that we as travel advisors and travel suppliers are walking between keeping our businesses afloat and risking long-term damage to our reputation and our customer relationships that we have built over the years by selling the wrong trip, or selling too soon.

This was made more evident recently with the cruise industry, which made headlines anew last week as passengers on several of the first ships to set sail since the pandemic began testing positive for Covid-19, despite recording negative tests just before their departure. There has been some criticism that the cruise restarted sailing too soon.  Most cruise lines are currently halting sailings untli the end of October when they will once again re-evaluate whether to resume cruising at that time.

While we would love to get back on the road as soon as possible, as we know you all do, we at Trasformativa are taking an increasingly cautious approach as the crisis has dragged on and uncertainties have mounted. Travel protocols are constantly changing, flights continue to be cancelled, and obtaining Covid test results in a timely manner for travel authorization, are just a few of the stumbling blocks we are seeing on an ongoing basis.

We are in constantly in contact with our preferred tour operators and Tourist Board representatives and ask that they be vocal, and honest, about whether it is safe, or not for our travel customers to come to their destinations.

While many guided tour and group travel companies and cruise lines have officially pushed back start dates only through the fall, conversations about restarting is increasingly focused on 2021; and when in 2021 is still a question mark.

What we are telling our travel clients who call us and are eager to travel, as many Caribbean islands are opening again to tourism, we are telling everybody, don’t push it, because we would hate to make a booking only to have to cancel or rebook it down the road; or even worse….. have a bad travel experience.  As we say at Trasformativa, You Can’t Return A Bad Vacation!!

We know you are itching to travel, as we are still fielding a lot of calls, but we’re also encouraging our travel customers not to book now because we know our clients.  Our clients expect a certain level of experience when they book a trip with us, and we don’t want you to be disappointed and not have the experience that you are expecting or hoping for.

The thing is, it’s not about something or a destination being open. If our customers are going to spend all this money, they don’t want to spend it for a different experience than they are expecting. You don’t want to walk around the hotel in a mask. You want to use the spa, and you don’t want to sit in the restaurants or at breakfast at the hotel and it’s not that enjoyable experience you want it to be.

While some travelers are opting for a domestic destination this summer, they have a good time, but it wasn’t the experience they wanted for the money they spent.

So…Be Patient!!  TRAVEL WILL RETURN!!!  For now, while we are obsessing over when we can travel again, right now we can and should be using this time to plan future travel and possibly booking travel and taking advantage of the great deals that are out there right now.  Again, with relaxed cancellation and refund policies in place, what have you go to lose???

 

 

TRAVEL IN COLOR – NOT BLACK AND WHITE

ABOUT TRASFORMATIVA TRAVEL

Trasformativa is a US based travel company with offices located in Durham, NC and Clarksville, VA.  We are  focused exclusively on transformational travel. Our experienced and qualified travel agents offer many different types of transformational travel opportunities. We work with individuals and groups of many sizes to help them find a true difference. Most of the people who contact us are luxury travelers and leaders of groups who are traveling together. This includes, yoga or fitness instructors, health and wellness professionals, human resource directors, sales managers, CEO’s, church group leaders, corporate trainers, personal chefs, wedding planners, brides, corporate travel professionals, and also individuals looking to plan an exciting and out-of-the-way trip for a group of their friends.

Our transformational opportunities include Exotic Group Travel, Jamaica Travel, Caribbean Travel, Europe Travel, Incentive Travel Reward Programs, Destination Training Events,  Autism Travel, Girls Getaway

To learn more, visit our website or call us at (919) 616-3780.